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Do our cars SUCK cornering in the mountains, or do I suck at driving? :(

Rudemouthsky

Rudemouthsky

New member
Just finished up a trip north trough I77 in West Virginia. I was really looking forward to testing my new GP's prowess in this particular arena. Really, really disappointing. Body roll through tight corners was terrifying at any speed...front tires felt like they were breaking loose...torque steer created a panic if I touched the gas. Kids in Corolla's were giving me the stink eye as their cars nimbly swept past and around me. What should have been a really fun time was a really big let down instead. I had a W body that I seem to remember performing WAY better. And a Charger that just killed it.

Does anyone else concur? I know I'm not THAT bad a driver.

2006 3800 SC, Cooper CS4 tires.
 


check your front sway bar for broken ends, or broken end links.

you do need to remember its a sporty looking car, not a race car..... never was a race car, never will be a a race car.

i drove with a broken sway bar for a while, its horrible like that, the front end would plow on slow turns in town.
 
I hear GM dealerships offer good trade-in pricing.


But seriously, have any suspension mods done, or replaced anything yet?
 
i live in the mountains.



and, GP's arent the best handling cars in the world. but my setup right now has just alllllllllls the grips everrrr :)
but even stock it wasn't that bad either.. still cornered pretty damn well for itself, but the cars biggest issue isn't the weight, its the awful weight distribution.
 
My car handled so much better around turns after replacing my front sway bar links with moog parts. I really should have replaced the whole bar since it had that typical horizontal split. Oh well if it breaks I'll tear it all down and replace the whole thing.
 


Yeah, don't know if it's the tires on your or what but I like the I-77 drive through WV can usually take most of that around 110.
 
strut tower brace, bigger sway bar, there's a few things to help. i'm stock suspension with 183,000 km on it and just a strut tower brace and i have no issue diving into corners. tires is huge too i saw your post said cooper cs4. did you get the v-rated or t-rated. i had the v-rated ones as my first set of replacement tires and absolutely loved em for cornering.
 
As others have said, I'd make sure everything in your suspension is up to par first. But as a general rule of thumb, the bigger/heavier the car, the less nimble it will be. Factor in the fact that these cars were not designed to handle well, and have a less than adequate weight distribution, and you should probably not go into corners expecting much from it. You can upgrade the suspension a bit with some aftermarket parts, but it will never be "nimble", so to speak. They're going to be OK at best.

BTW, I don't know what your previous w-body was, but I know the Gen 5 GPs ('88 - '96) with the FE3 suspension actually handled just as good, if not slightly better than the newer GPs. They also seemed to respond better to bigger sway bars, STBs, etc. Back when they used to do the huge national Grand Prix Gatherings, Josh (OldskoolGP) won the autocross competition 2 years in a row with a Gen 5 3.4L DOHC sedan. :th_embarassed: He was the only Gen 5 in the competitions.
 
I took the family to the Smokey Mountains in the GP and had no handling problems,plus the brakes and rotors were new,tires were half a year old Eagle GT's.I made the wife raise her voice a couple times while on the mountain,otherwise I had fun,so for a sedan it handled good.
 
keep in mind these were designed for like highway/city driving, that being said they are not terrible but they are no sports car either they do the job when need be but dont go overboard in my opinion ive seen bad things happen with guys trying to out handle a miata lol
 


Yeah I don't know why some people have negative opinions about their suspensions, mine handles pretty good, I'm very happy with it. Then again I came from driving the family minivan before I got the GP as my first car, so that may say something. My GP handles a lot better than our 03 impala with original sway bar links, the Moog upgrade did help quite a bit.
 
Some people expect to many things from a 3000lb+ fwd family sedan


It really doesn't handle bad stock. But you may need to take a good look at your suspension and see if anything needs replacing and or upgrade some of it if your serious.
 
I think they handle well for what they are with the weight and everything. My main beef with GPs are they dont make a 5speed. Engine braking is so much smoother than actual braking especially in a heavy fwd.
 


Iv got a doorman front sway bar, Moog everything on the sway bar, Gmpp rear sway bar, ZZP strut tower braces, and ZZP trailing arms.... Theres not a whole lot else I can do as far as I know but at least my car feels stable when cornering as long as I am aware of my speed. At high.... high high speeds on the interstate / curvey highways I dont feel like touching the steering wheel is going to roll the car over anymore. I can at least keep up with my foreign car friends. But the thing still is like a snow plow compared to my 06 gto. Its funny watching me pull away from my buddies like they forgot to press the gas on straight or gentle curves but then as soon as we get some twisties they start to catch up slowly.
 
wa04compg said:
My comp g handles pretty darn good for being stock! Maybe upgrade sways and struts
Click to expand...

This. Handles pretty damn good stock well the comp g's do.

Get some comp g struts, lowering springs, dorman front sway bar, STB, some poly upper motor mounts guaranteed you'll feel a difference
 
Took my GTP up to the dragon (US-129/Deal's Gap) a few weeks ago.

New LCAs, lowered with anti-pogo washers, and 245/45-18s. No swaybar upgrades, no strut tower braces. It handled great. Not nearly as well as our 2G eclipse, but I never had 1 moment of doubt with the car. No wheel spin (even in 75% throttle through the gravity cavity)

I attribute most of this to being lowered and slightly wider, brand new tires.
 
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